While all of the players competing in the US Open qualifying are hoping to move on to becoming top-ranked players, one player is looking to do so for a second time.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who reached a career high ranking of No. 14 in 2006, is back competing in the qualifying for the first time in four years, as she looks to rebound from a nightmare 2007 season. She moved one step closer to qualifying for the main draw, easily defeating Regina Kulikova 6-4, 6-2 in a second round match.

The big serves and heavy groundstrokes that were so prevalent in Groenefeld’s game when she reached the 2006 French Open quarterfinals appeared as though they had never left. Attacking the ball early and controlling most of the rallies, Groenefeld jumped out to early leads in both sets as she advanced in just over an hour.

“I didn’t lose serve once today, so that was very good for me,” Groenefeld said. “Because I was able to break her serve once more in the second set, I started to feel very comfortable from that point on.”

The confidence that Groenefeld currently has in her game wasn’t easy to regain after a 2007 season that featured a high-profile breakup with her coach, Rafael Font De Mora. After the break-up, Font De Mora publicly criticized Groenefeld’s weight and physical appearance. He also sat courtside at Groenefeld’s matches whenever possible, offering tactical advice to her opponents.

“It wasn’t easy for me to play with all of these distractions,” Groenefeld said.

After ending the summer of 2007 with a 6-16 record and with her ranking well outside the top 150, Groenefeld said that she took a self-imposed break from tennis in order to get her career back on track.

“I was playing the whole time, but it was never at one-hundred percent obviously,” Groenefeld said. “There’s no way you can do that unless you’re completely focused.”

After ten months away from the tour, Groenefeld hired a new coach, Dirk Dier, and worked on getting herself back into shape both mentally and physically.

“The first thing he told me was that I had to have fun doing this,” Groenefeld said. “Otherwise, there was no point.”

With a renewed sense of determination, Groenefeld returned to the tour last May on the challenger circuit. She quickly won four challenger titles and reached the finals of a WTA Tour event in Budapest.

Groenefeld said that while she has always believed she could return to the top of women’s tennis, she didn’t expect to be winning tournaments so quickly.

“I couldn’t be any happier with the results so far,” Groenefeld said. “To be winning this many tournaments so far is just amazing.”

Groenefeld said that she credits Dier for not only saving her career, but giving her the balance that her life had been missing.

“He’s been making practice fun and of course is also offering some good tactical advice,” Groenefeld said. “I love the way we work together and hope we can continue this for the rest of my career.”